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Significance
With successful launch of Astrosat, India becomes the first country in the developing world to have its very own telescope in space. Till date, Indian astronomers had to rely on international resources for X-ray and ultraviolet data. This flight of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is historic as, for the first time; American satellites are being launched by India inlcuding four small LEMUR satellites for a San Francisco-based company. Till recently, the US had kept ISRO under sanctions and was denied the critical cryogenic engine technology which pushed back India's foray into deep space by two decades.
Analysis
Barely a year has passed since its first interplanetary mission, Mangalyaan, entered the orbit of Mars, and ISRO has crossed yet another important milestone. The ASTROSAT is India’s first attempt at setting up an observatory in space, a place from where it can study cosmological phenomena. ASTROSAT, which is carrying five payloads, including an ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UVIT), is being described as India’s version of the Hubble telescope that NASA had put in space in 1990 and which continues to be operational. In some ways, ASTROSAT is a very different mission for ISRO and will add a new dimension to its capabilities. Chandrayaan and Mangalyaan, the moon and Mars missions respectively were essentially technology-demonstration projects, at least when they were planned. This is not to say there was no science component in these, or that these did not add to our scientific knowledge. Chandrayaan, in fact, confirmed the presence of water on the moon. But these missions were essentially building the foundation for India’s deeper exploration into space. The various other satellites that ISRO has placed in space over the last three decades were mainly geared at applications – remote sensing, communications, mapping, navigation and many others. Again, these are essential aspects of a country’s space programme. But with ASTROSAT, ISRO is attempting to fulfill what is the core mandate of any space agency — study of astronomical phenomena. The 1500-kg ASTROSAT, which has a mission life of five years, will put ISRO in a very exclusive club of nations that have space-based observatories. Only the United States, European Space Agency, Japan and Russia have such observatories in space. The capability to cover the full spectrum of wavelength simultaneously is the unique feature of ASTROSAT. Most other satellites are capable of observing only a narrow range of wavelength band. Hence, a space-based observatory like ASTROSAT will be of immense value to researchers based in India.
By: Dr. Vivek Rana ProfileResourcesReport error
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